The next morning, just as the minions of the Heroic Thief were happily frolicking about with the spending cards Shen Qiang had given them.

Inside the General Manager's office of Shunhua Company.

Ding Maofu sat in his chair, frantically shaking his leg while his gaze was fixed on the landline and mobile phone on his desk, incessantly refreshing his email as well.

At that moment, the middle-aged man who had been to the bun shop and the young man arrived.

After knocking, the two entered the office.

"Mr. Ding," the middle-aged man said with an anxious look, "Shen's has made their move. They hired the most notorious scoundrel lawyer in Provincial City, that bastard insists, the men we sent to smash the shop are a criminal gang involved in organized crime. He even threatened them to their faces, saying he would find evidence to make sure they rot in jail."

"Not only that, Shen's seems to have pulled some strings, and all the men we sent have been detained. We tried to use some connections, but they all indicated that this was not something they felt comfortable getting involved in."

Hearing this, Ding Maofu stopped shaking his leg.

He leaned back in his chair with a cold look in his eyes and said seriously, "What do you plan to do?"

"According to our previous plan, after smashing the shop, we'd have them hide for a few days then pull some strings. Normally, there wouldn't be any issues, at worst they'd just pay a few thousand yuan and a small public security fine. But this time it's different, the police acted unusually swiftly and detained them on the spot. So, I think Shen's must have used some influence with the police..."

Ding Maofu interrupted with a cold and raised eyebrow, "Stop, you're wrong. The men being detained on the spot has nothing to do with Shen's pulling strings. It's because Xishi Buns are incredibly popular right now and it happened to be breakfast time, plus the bun shop is very close to the street police station."

"So without guessing, I can imagine those at the street police station, whose wages aren't high, would certainly frequent a nearby place offering cheap and tasty food. So when our men smashed up the bun shop, they detained them immediately, not because Shen's is all-powerful."

"It's because, those police station guys are pissed. The widow is pretty, the buns are delicious, affordable, and close by. Then a bunch of thugs show up and smash her shop. If I were in the police station, I too would do everything in my power to detain them right away."

"The crux of the problem lies with the station, not with going to the bureau to pull strings."

The middle-aged man frowned, "Mr. Ding, detention isn't the issue, that was something we anticipated. But the problem lies with the gang of lawyers Shen's has hired. They're famously unscrupulous; as long as the price is right, they'll take on any case, and they're very competent, having won a lot of impossible lawsuits. If, within 15 days, they find evidence that proves those men are part of a criminal organization, then there's no getting them out."

Ding Maofu frowned, "Didn't I tell you to recruit clean, uninvolved people for this job?"

The middle-aged man awkwardly replied, "Mr. Ding, truly clean people, no matter how much you pay them, won't do such detestable things."

Ding Maofu fell silent for a moment, then said, "So to make things easier for yourself, you just picked out a few small-time hooligans who regularly get into fights and scrapes?"

The middle-aged man replied awkwardly, "I couldn't find anyone else."

Ding Maofu fell silent with a look of severe displeasure.

The middle-aged man hesitated, then said, "Mr. Ding, given the current situation which seems rather bad, perhaps we should talk to the people at the head office."

Ding Maofu's gaze turned icy as he said sharply, "Talk about what? Go to the corporate executives and say, 'Hey, the small-time hooligans we hired have been detained by the police, and we're worried they'll be categorized as a criminal gang, please help us?'"

Looking at the middle-aged man's awkward expression, Ding Maofu said, "Aren't you embarrassed? Or are you really afraid that the people at the corporate office don't already know how incompetent you are?"

The middle-aged man was silent for a moment, then said, "Smashing the bun shop and acquiring the bun recipe was originally an assignment from the corporate side, so when there's a problem, it's only natural they should be involved."

Ding Maofu snapped, "How old are you? Did the corporate office send you a written directive to smash the bun shop?"

"They mentioned..."

"It's useless," Ding Maofu said. "We can only deal with this dirty business ourselves. If you ask for their help, you're finished, you understand? They'll think you're an idiot, a useless person, and they will quickly dispose of you. So, we must take care of this issue ourselves."

"Moreover, you must realize that the people at corporate are a bunch of scumbags. They send out memos to all subsidiaries, asking them to closely monitor whether there are any companies or capital movements in their industry related to Shen's Holding, but they didn't tell us a word that the bun shop belonged to Shen's Holding."

Looking at the middle-aged man, Ding Maofu frowned and said, "Think about it, a small bun shop with a total investment of perhaps only 50,000 yuan, is it worth the corporate people coming to us and implying that we should get the bun recipe? Then, because of a small shop with just a 50,000 yuan investment, Shen's Holding brings in a large team of disreputable but potent lawyers, determined to imprison a few small-time hooligans at all costs."

"Does a 50,000 yuan investment cover legal fees?" Ding Maofu raised an eyebrow. "So the real situation is simply that corporate wanted to stir things up with Shen's Holding, to test Shen's response and observe their attitude."

"Now the situation is clear, Shen's reaction is exceptionally swift, and their stance is very tough. They never would have made such an extensive show of force over a trivial bun shop just for its sake, but rather to show the corporate people and to tell everyone else that even the slightest encroachment on Shen's Holding will be retaliated against with full force."

Hearing this, the middle-aged man had an epiphany, then said anxiously, "Mr. Ding, does that mean we're just cannon fodder?"

Ding Maofu calmly replied, "Exactly, which is why you better hope that the small-time hooligans you hired can keep their mouths shut and not drag us down, and that Shen's doesn't have the power to force corporate to compromise. Otherwise, we are definitely the ones who will take the fall!"

"Mr. Ding, there are only a few of us in our company, and we usually just collect rent from the breakfast stalls. If Shen's decides to target us and corporate stays out of it, we don't stand a chance against them!"

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